The hottest TVs and TV tech from CES

They’re TVs but not as we know them. We round up the latest TV tech and developments from this year’s consumer electronics show…

They’re TVs but not as we know them. We round up the latest TV tech and developments from this year’s consumer electronics show…

TV innovations have always taken centre-stage at the annual consumer electronics show (CES), a place where tech bods and companies from around the world congregate to show off their goods. This year is no exception, even if they’re jostling for the spotlight with virtual reality technology advances.

We round up the hottest TVs, the coolest developments and how they could change your viewing habits for the better.

1. Ultra HD Premium TVs

Ultra-high definition 4K TV has been around for a while but soon you’ll be seeing the ‘UHD Premium’ on the latest high-end models from Panasonic, LG and Samsung.

The Ultra HD Premium TV standard, first touted at CES last year, combines multiple factors including a high dynamic range, depth of blackness, sound quality, and the range of colours a TV is able to display to create vivid, rich images. It’s a new benchmark gold standard for a quality TV.

‘Even from the back of the huge conference hall where the Panasonic television was unveiled, the image was still incredible, with rich and dynamic colours that made the image feel very real,’ said our reporter on the ground at CES.

The UHD Premium badge is awarded by the UHD Alliance which is made up of manufacturers, streaming platforms, content producers and various stakeholders, with the aim of clearly indicating to those buying TVs which TV sets can give them the best immersive experience.

2. HDR TVs

High Dynamic Range (HDR) TVs have created a huge buzz at this year’s CES. Why? Well HDR-enabled TV screens will be able to show millions more colours than before with stronger contrasts between blacks and whites. So, what does this mean? Way more detail than High Definition TV.

All the major TV players – LG, Sony, Panasonic and Samsung – are committed to this new technology, with LG and Samsung both announcing that all their new flagship TVs will be HDR-enabled.

If you’ve bought a new TV recently you may have gone 4K for crisper, more vivid pictures. So imagine what 8K could look like.

Although LG announced that their huge 98” Super UHD 8K TV will go on sale later this year, there isn’t very much 8K content being produced yet to watch on it.

OLED TVs on the other hand don’t need customised programming for you to enjoy the blackest of blacks and the brightest of colours. The images on OLED TVs really pop in dark rooms so they’re great if you’re a movie buff or TV series binger who likes to hunker down on the sofa with the lights off.

That said, OLED TVs such as those just launched by LG, pioneers of OLED technology, require deep pockets as this tech is expensive to develop.

So far LG has won the TV slimming competition with its newly launched Signature range. The G6 55” and E6 77” TVs come in at 2.57mm thick, equivalent to ‘4 stacked credit cards’ according to LG. This makes them the thinnest TVs in the world at the moment. Samsung wasn’t far behind at 3mm thick.

So how do they do it? It’s a combination of clever use of OLED technology and streamlining key features such as placing a TV’s speakers in its stand.

LG’s super-slim high quality TVs also have an unusual picture display function which lets you display your images or artwork on the back, even when it’s switched off, which LG are calling ‘Picture-On-Glass’. Handy for when you to decide to have your TV dangling from the ceiling in the middle of the room.

5. The TV that floats – almost

Imagine your TV suspended above the sideboard. A minimalist’s dream? If Samsung have anything to do with it, you could be waving goodbye to TVs with frames in the near future.

Samsung claim to have launched the world’s first bezel-less TV. A TV bezel, for the uninitiated, is simply a TV’s frame. Over the years they’ve been getting slimmer. The more slim the bezel, the more TV screen you get for your buck.

‘Now you can focus on what matters most – the picture quality,’ said Samsung at CES. Yet, while Samsung’s flagship new 88” KS9500 SUHD TV bezel may be super slim for its enormous size, it still exists. Floating TVs have not quite arrived. But this looks beautiful in the meantime.